When did Ali Khamenei die?: Ali Khamenei was killed on 28 February 2026 in an Israeli airstrike on his Tehran compound. He had served as Supreme Leader of Iran since June 1989. He is the deceased father; his son Mojtaba Khamenei (a separate person) is the current Supreme Leader.Source: Iranian state media
Who replaced Ali Khamenei as Supreme Leader?: His son Mojtaba Khamenei was formally announced by a dispersed remnant of the Assembly of Experts on 7 March 2026, the first dynastic succession in the office's history. Mojtaba has not appeared publicly since his appointment and was reported unconscious by intelligence sources in April 2026.Source: Assembly of Experts announcement
How long was Ali Khamenei Supreme Leader of Iran?: Ali Khamenei served as Supreme Leader from June 1989 until his death on 28 February 2026, a tenure of approximately 37 years spanning eight US presidencies. He previously served two terms as president of Iran from 1981 to 1989.Source: Lowdown
What was the Axis of Resistance under Khamenei?: A network of Iran-backed armed groups across the region: Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and a constellation of Iraqi militias. Ali Khamenei directed its strategic coordination for four decades before his death.Source: Lowdown
Who is actually in charge of Iran now?: An IRGC military council led by Ahmad Vahidi controls access to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, who has not appeared publicly since his March 2026 appointment. The council has blocked President Pezeshkian from meetings with the Supreme Leader and from making ministerial appointments since early April 2026.Source: Lowdown
Is the Khamenei making Hormuz threats Ali or Mojtaba?: Mojtaba Khamenei — the son, the current Supreme Leader (entity 137). Ali Khamenei, the father, was killed on 28 February 2026. On 30 April 2026 it was Mojtaba who issued the 'new management of Hormuz' warning, carrying forward his father's anti-American doctrine.Source: Lowdown

Background

Ali Khamenei (1939-2026, deceased) was killed on 28 February 2026 in the opening Israeli airstrike on his Tehran compound, ending a 37-year tenure as Supreme Leader and collapsing the command architecture he had built over four decades. His daughter, son-in-law and grandson died with him. The Assembly of Experts was struck simultaneously in Qom, destroying the body that would ordinarily choose a successor. On 7 March 2026 a dispersed remnant of the Assembly formally named his son Mojtaba Khamenei (entity 137, a separate living person) as the third Supreme Leader, the first dynastic succession in the office's history.

Khamenei became Supreme Leader in June 1989, succeeding the Islamic Republic's founder Ruhollah Khomeini. He held ultimate authority over Iran's military, judiciary, Foreign Policy and nuclear programme across 37 years and eight US presidencies. Under his direction Iran expanded uranium enrichment to approximately 84% purity and built the Axis of Resistance through Hezbollah, Hamas, Iraqi militias and the Houthis. He survived the 1981 bombing that maimed his right hand, served two terms as president (1981-1989) before elevation, and presided over the IRGC's transformation from a revolutionary militia into a parallel state with its own navy, air force, intelligence Arm and estimated hundred-billion-dollar economic empire.

The succession his death forced has produced a deeper crisis than his own absence. Mojtaba has not appeared publicly in over five weeks and was reported unconscious by US and Israeli intelligence on 9 April 2026; state media applied the "Janbaz" (disabled veteran) designation to him in April, the first time it has been used for a sitting Supreme Leader. On 30 April 2026 Mojtaba's written statement read on state television — announcing "new management" of the Strait of Hormuz and warning foreigners who arrive "from thousands of kilometres away to act with greed and malice" would find "no place in it, except at the bottom of its waters" — carried Ali Khamenei's decades-long Hormuz doctrine forward under his son's name, a line of succession in rhetoric even as the succession in institutional authority remains contested. An IRGC military council led by Ahmad Vahidi controls access to Mojtaba, filters information reaching him and blocks civilian-government contact, while President Pezeshkian cannot secure meetings or ministerial appointments. Ali Khamenei's death did not end the Supreme Leader system; it handed operational authority to the IRGC, which has run Iran's war from the Supreme Leader's vacant office ever since.